The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The present invention relates generally to transducers such as force or pressure transducers. More particularly, the present invention relates to improved acceleration compensation for transducers.
Acceleration compensation is a technique that is often used in transducers such as force or pressure transducers. When such transducers are moved or displaced, this motion can cause error (inertial error) in the measurement. Commonly, this error is attributable to a sensor within the transducer that senses motion of a sensing (often called “active”) member. The total mass of the sensing member commonly includes any components attached to the sensing member. Since the sensing member has some mass and due to motion, the sensing member has to be accelerated, a force is required. However, the force is considered erroneous, because the transducer creates the force itself, i.e. through its motion, and not by some force input.
Traditionally, force or pressure dynamic measurements are corrected for inertially induced errors with an accelerometer coupled to or placed in close proximity to the transducer such that the accelerometer senses acceleration in the direction(s) of motion in which the transducer error exists. Since the force error is proportional to the acceleration, a scalar value multiplied by the measured acceleration produces a compensation signal for the inertial error. The scalar value represents the mass of the sensing member or other object inducing the inertial error.
Although the above-described compensation technique provides a compensation signal that can significantly improve transducer accuracy, in some situations more accuracy is desired.